Archive for March, 2009

“This isn’t life, it’s just stuff! And it’s become more important to you than living! Well honey, that’s just nuts.”

-Lester Burnham, American Beauty

Almost every day I walk two blocks to my favorite local coffee shop. Along the way I pass a parking garage. In the back of that parking garage, in the third space from the wall, sits a Rolls Royce. In more than a month of frequenting this coffee shop, I have yet to see it move. And it makes me wonder, who has the kind of money where they can just let a Rolls Royce rot away like that? After some wonderful coffee, conversation, and a few pages of a book, I walk back to my apartment, and as I pass that Rolls Royce I can’t help but think to myself, “today, my $1.75 coffee is more valuable than that Rolls Royce.” Think about it, If I enjoy my coffee every day, and that Rolls Royce just sits there, providing nothing to whoever owns it, then my coffee is more valuable. To be honest, I think thats a sad realization.

I love my coffee. But seeing a Rolls Royce waste away in a garage…getting less usage than a cup of coffee…its sad you know? Thats alot of money wasting away.

Our apartment is almost completely furnished. TJ, Caleb and Myself are really not to thank for that. We’ve just been at the right place at the right time…and people have given us stuff. I find it amazing. I am very grateful for my comfy couches and my 35 inch TV and my Ethen Allen table. But when I think about it, these things were once somebodys proud posessions that they bought new, and now what? They can afford to just give them away? I’m not trying to say anything negative about the people who have blessed us with such nice furniture, they’re great people. But having the ability to just give something away that was once valuable enough that someone would spend ALOT amount of money on it, its just crazy to me.

Right now our fridge is filled with 3rd hand food. No that is not a typo. I have 3rd hand food in my fridge, meaning that the loaves of bread I have in my fridge have been discarded not once, but twice before they have gotten to me. Say a store has a loaf of bread, but they do not sell it, so they give it to YWAM, it then becomes secondhand food, but there is so much secondhand bread, that YWAM ends up throwing it away, so I take some of it, and it becomes thirdhand food. Isn’t that amazing that we can waste so much food? The truth is, I wont use all the bread, and I’ll have to throw some of it away too.

My point is, The world tells us that we’re supposed to accumulate all of this stuff. But it seems to me that none of it really matters that much in the long run. I just can’t justify buying a huge TV or a huge couch when other people are just giving it away, obviously its not all its cracked up to be. I recently returned an expensive pair of headphones because I realized I just couldn’t justify it… it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

It just kills me seeing a Rolls Royce rot in a garage after seeing kids play soccer with a “ball” made of trash bags rolled up with rubber bands. It kills me to see so much food thrown away after seeing kids in the later phases of starvation. Its not a pretty world out there, but damn we’re doing a good job of distracting ourselves with our 35 inch TVs.

Since I recently discovered how to put pictures on here, I put a nice little flattering picture of myself on the “about trek” page. And I figured it would only be right to introduce you to my roommates as well.

Maybe I’m more observant than some, but I love watching people, and whether I realize it or not, I tend to pick up things from other people that I like about them. For me, the most obvious aspect of this is that I pick up other peoples words. I know I picked up “noob” from TJ, and I used to say “darling” alot when I worked in a restaurant full of old ladies. Less obvious is the fact that I wear a watch that Robert Easley gave to me, not just because I like it, but because it’s a really nice watch that he gave me out of the blue, and it reminds me on a daily basis that I should be generous. Robert Easley is the most generous person I’ve ever met, and I’d really like to emulate that.

The people you live with and the people you come in contact with on a day to day basis have a bigger impact on your life than you can imagine. Subconsciously or not, you emulate them. You compare their life and their accomplishments to your own, and the rough edges of “you” seems to get rounded out by picking up little things from those around you.

Sometimes I realize I’m trying to emulate a certain quality about someone, but usually it seems to just rub off over time. And that brings me back to my roommates. Caleb and TJ are the two people that are closest to me, whether they like it or not. They’re there when I beat them at wii bowling, and they’re there when I dance in my boxers (and other stuff). My point is, they see me at my best and my worst (my best being when I’m dancing in my boxers). Whether they realize it or not, the way they live affects the way I live, and vice versa.

So it’s only right that I share a little bit about the guys who share and shape my journey.

Caleb Brisbane is someone I didn’t really meet until we moved in together. We played basketball once before that and I beat him, and since then I don’t think I’ve beaten him at anything (except wii bowling). Caleb is one of those people who seems to be good at most everything. He is continually the video game champ of the house. He goes to SF state and is one of the leaders of their Intervarsity. Caleb is also the leader of the junior high ministry at his church (His dad is also the pastor, so +1 for being a fellow PK). Caleb is also a soccer coach at his old high school (where rumor has it he was once quite the stud). To add to this, he also pays the bills by working at starbucks and occasionally bringing home coffee cake (for which I am very thankful). Needless to say, caleb is the busiest person I know. Oh and did I mention that every girl that has come over to our apartment thinks Caleb Brisbane is a cutie?

TJ Guardino has been one of my closest friends ever since the first couple weeks at Jessup. We moved to San Francisco together, and somewhere along the way he became my best friend. Simply stated, I would not live in San Francisco right now if it wasn’t for TJ, much less have awesome couches (thank you Mr. and Mrs. Guardino). TJ takes FOREVER to go anywhere, I still cannot figure out what takes him so long. But he makes up for it by usually walking faster than I run. He was terrible with direction, until he got an iphone. TJ is the best guitarist I know, and is an aspiring songwriter and musician. I am eternally grateful and encouraged to have someone around who is unsure about where life is taking him, but at the same time pursues his dreams to the fullest. TJ is the world’s pickiest person when it comes to movies, but he has really good taste in music, so it’s an even tradeoff. To be quite honest, I don’t think I’ve ever met a single person who didn’t like TJ Guardino.

Now you’ve gotten a chance to know my roommates. Take some time to get to know yours. They’ll shape you more than you think, and you should return the favor.

First off let me apologize to all the friends and friendships that I have neglected lately. As busy and stressed as I’ve been, I continually come back to realizing how grateful and in debt I am to all the people who put up with me.

I recently got a job working at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. I actually got this job a couple of weeks ago now, but have been slow to talk about it for fear of jinxing it. I just finished going through the hardest training I’ve had for any restaurant job, or any job for that matter. It wasn’t a matter of when I started working for Bubba Gump’s, but if I would be working for Bubba Gump’s. It was that tough. I’ve studied twice as much for Bubba Gump’s as I have for all my midterm’s combined, and thats saying more about Bubba Gump’s than my midterms.

Thankfully, I made it through training (relatively) smoothly. So I now work at the world famous Pier 39 Bubba Gump Shimp Co. and I expect you all (yes, all three of you who read this) to come visit me.

At this point it’s just strange having a little extra money. Ever since…well, January really, I’ve had this cloud of debt hanging over my head. And while that cloud is still there, I now have a solid way of paying my way out of it…and maybe being able to splurge on some ben & jerry’s along the way (and believe me, I’ve already begun splurging on ben & jerry’s).

In other news, I’ve gotten the chance to work at YWAM again. I loved working there over summer, and they were nice enough to allow me to work some of their spring teams. I cannot explain how good working at YWAM is for me, for some reason the combination of working with the homeless and leading high school kids suits me well, and I’m honestly just thankful to have the opportunity again.

As far as the apartment goes, it’s now almost completely furnished (minus a piano and some much needed art) and might I say that it looks good. really good. I sat out on my balcony tonight and watched the rain, and thought about how a couple of months ago, this whole situation was just part of my imagination. I don’t know if I had ever slept in a building more that like three stories off the ground before (well, aside from sleeping on planes) and now I live in a 7th floor apartment. Before I moved, I would have been happy living in the worst of San Francisco apartments, and somehow I get to look out over the San Francisco skyline every night.

And now I make enough money to be able to do that comfortably. It’s funny how much life can change in just a couple of months. I’m grateful. I’m lucky. And dear God, I’m so thankful.

Life has been a whirlwind as of late. I’ll get to writing about all that at some point in the near future.

In the meantime…

10 thoughts about college from Luke Spray:

1. The only reason I go to school is because somewhere down the line I’ll supposedly need a piece of paper stating that I’ve thrown away money for multiple years

2. I spend the majority of class thinking of creative new ways to text people without the teacher finding out.

3. The rest of the time I spend reminding myself that I can’t draw a good doodle to save my life

4. The people at the reference desk in the library recognize my face by now, considering I don’t buy books when I can just photocopy whatever I may need out of the book that’s on reserve in the library.

5. What is the point of textbooks anyway? I can look up anything I need to know, about anything, by simply typing it into google.

6. I honestly believe it’s smarter to invest in an iphone than go to college. With an iphone, you can look up anything in the world on the internet. What is the point in getting straight A’s when the class idiot can get the same answer off his phone?

I dare you to try to argue this with me.

really, try me.

7. I pay more attention to teachers habits than I do what they’re teaching. By knowing a teacher’s habits and interests, I can mold any answer into something that is appealing to the teacher.

8. On those rare occasions when I do feel I have to study, I only listen to Sufjan Stevens. Brain music.

9. I really would like someone to explain to me why some colleges can charge obscene amounts of money to teach the same basic classes that you can get at a CC for $19 a unit. Especially when that class isn’t even worth $19.

10. I spent my last class figuring out this list because I care more about this blog than class. Sad isn’t it?